Most automatic car washes rely at least partly upon a dryer mechanism toward the end of the wash lane to remove excess water from vehicles after they are washed. In recent years, high velocity air blowers have been used for this purpose. However, such devices consume substantial power during operation and energy conservation demands have resulted in a search for alternative drying methods and apparatus.
The great majority of the alternative dryer devices appearing in the patent literature comprise strips of water absorbent material depending from some sort of overhead carriage. Fromme U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,818 discloses a carousel-type device which is supported above a car wash lane to rotate a plurality of depending strips about a vertical axis. Each of the strips is caused to pass through a pair of vertically oriented wringer rollers at the side of the structure as the carousel rotates. Moran U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,821 discloses a dryer having a large overhead drum from which a series of dryer strips depend. A gas-fired heater is positioned adjacent the upper portion of the drum for warming and drying the strips as the drum rotates. Weigele et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,394 discloses an overhead chain drive system which extends longitudinally along the wash lane to support a series of depending dryer strips which the vehicle encounters in succession as it moves through the wash lane. Drying of the strips is accomplished by means of a suction pipe.
None of the prior art systems represents an automatic car drying apparatus which is energy conserving, yet effective and economical to construct and install.